CA: Democracy for sale - Fund-raising craze is a testament to Sacramento's failures

LA Daily News ^ | 3/30/05 | Op/Ed

[NormsRevenge]

The gridlock in Sacramento has become so bad that the people's business has been turned over to the big money fund-raisers and the manipulators of public opinion.

Last week, a Superior Court judge ruled that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can raise unlimited amounts of cash so he can put directly to voters reform measures that the Democrat-controlled Legislature won't even consider seriously.

It essentially sanctions both sides to engage in an unfettered cash-fest from special interests and to spend these fortunes on what almost certainly will be false and misleading advertisements.

California is giving up the pretense of a representative democracy. Instead of negotiations to solve problems between the governor and the Legislature, we have a kind of perverted direct democracy in which the public interest is put up for sale to the highest bidder.

It begs the question, why do we have a state government at all? It rarely does anything and when it does it's a disaster. Energy crisis. Workers' compensation crisis. Budget crisis.

And now it appears we have abandoned the pretense of elected officials leading the state in favor of a system of putting everything to the vote of the people. It may be the only way to get anything done. Certainly, it's the only way a reform-minded Republican governor will get anything done with a Democratic-controlled state Assembly and Senate determined to block him.

Every Californian ought to be seriously worried about the future of the state. Every Californian ought to take a hard look at the people elected to represent them and ask whether they're doing the job.

[NormsRevenge]

Time to chuck the whole damn lot of 'em.. or just cull the herd a bit?

[Jaysun]

Instead of negotiations to solve problems between the governor and the Legislature, we have a kind of perverted direct democracy in which the public interest is put up for sale to the highest bidder.

Negotiations are impossible because the Legislature is controlled by Democrats - you can't negotiate with irrational people. Arnold is doing just as he promised during the campaign. I see nothing wrong with this, and the only solution is to thin out the number of nutjob Democrats in the Legislature.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks, Alabama. ;-)

easy for you to say about what we are about to endure here in the Gol'Darn state, , a hype storm like none before..

Yup,, Change IS Good ,, but $50s and $100s dollar bills or checks are preferred!

.. and just think of all the millions the rags, TV and radio stations will pull in for the incessant political ads,,

we will be helping to perpetuate and fatten the very same pocketbooks of the idiots that are the 'status quo' hillfolk..

ReFoRm is definitely not painless.. or cheap! ;-)

[Jaysun]

You have a point (Alabama), but didn't Arnold say that he'd "take it to the people" during his campaign? And who would you rather have influence, those that haven't been successful? They'd vote for more handouts for sure, and swell the socialist state even larger.